STEELHEART — Steelheart (review)

STEELHEART — Steelheart album cover Album · 1991 · Glam Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
STEELHEART may have been latecomers to the glam metal scene but they really made an impression with their eponymous debut album solely because of the stunning multi-octave vocals of Michael Matijevic, who after immigrating from Croatia to Connecticut found his place in the musical world. The band began under the moniker Red Alert but after finding out that the name was taken settled on STEELHEART.

This is a mixed bag of an album. The first four tracks are excellent which includes their best known single “I’ll Never Let you Go” which is one of the absolute most stunning successes in glam metal ballads that i’ve ever heard. Matijevic has the voice of a trained opera singer and even makes Geoff Tate seem inferior with his vocal acrobatics. Unfortunately the music surrounding these vocals is derivative in every aspect.

Although the music is rhythmically and melodically pleasing, at this point this type of glam metal by the numbers was far past cliche and there are even blatant Led Zeppelin blues rip-offs as heard in “Sheila.” The power ballad “She’s Gone (Lady)” was a huge hit in Japan and is a very pleasant AOR / power metal track indeed but like everything else on this album, it just reeks of playing it safe and pandering to the teenage panty throwing audience who loves their rock stars who wear more makeup then they.

Although i have hardly been a fan of this band, i did pick this album up a long time ago and held onto it simply because i really love the first four tracks. They really rock, are super catchy and even though they aren’t dripping with originality, Matijevic’s vocals elevate them above the styles that they are imitating. While i really love these few tracks a lot when i listen to this entire album i am always left with a somewhat dissatisfied feeling that this band never really developed their own distinct sound and personality.

Unfortunately the band came late in the game of glam metal and changed their sound on the second album and then Matijevic had an onstage accident leaving him and this band crippled for life. A sad tale about a major talent that never really was able to find and develop itself completely, however i still find myself listening to this album every now and again simply because of the sheer magnificence in its somewhat imperfect delivery.
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